Microcement solves a problem tile cannot. It is a thin, resin-modified cementitious coating that bonds to a prepared substrate and cures as one continuous plane - across a floor, up a wall, over a step, around a bath. Because the whole surface is a single material with no joints, there is nothing for water to get behind and nothing to stain, which is why it has taken over from tile in wet rooms and open-plan floors.

The thinness is the other half of the argument. At 2-3 mm you can go over an existing tiled floor without lifting it, without rebuilding thresholds and without losing door clearance. On a refurbishment that turns a two-week strip-out into a five-day application and it keeps a great deal of material out of a skip.

The four applications

Each has its own build-up, its own seal and its own failure modes. They are different jobs, not one product used in four places:

Bathrooms and wet rooms - fully sealed beneath, joint-free above, with an anti-slip option in the shower zone.
Seamless floors - over screed, tile or timber, compatible with underfloor heating, wear-rated seal.
Kitchens and countertops - worktops, splashbacks and island cladding as one material, with a food-safe seal.
Pools and exteriors - frost- and UV-stable systems with an elastic exterior seal.

What it is not

Microcement is not a waterproofing layer. It is a finish. Waterproofing comes from the waterproofing membrane underneath and the sealed build-up above working as a system, which is why we seal and test wet areas before a single finish coat goes on. Anyone telling you the microcement itself makes a wet room watertight has misunderstood the product - we have written up how it actually works, because the misconception causes real failures.

It is also not a way to avoid dealing with a bad substrate. At 2 mm it has no capacity to bridge movement. If the screed is cracking, if the tiles beneath are drummy, if the timber deck deflects underfoot, that all comes through. Substrate assessment at survey is not a formality; it is the part that decides whether the finish lasts.

Colour and character

Pigmented in-studio and matched to RAL, NCS or a physical reference. The character ranges from a near-uniform fine finish to a pronounced cloudy movement, set by the trowel technique on the final coats. Both are confirmed on a sample panel in your own light before we start - screen renders are not evidence.

Typical build-up

01 · Substrate prep, primer, mesh
02 · Base microcement ×2
03 · Fine finish coats ×2
04 · Polyurethane seal, application-rated

At a glance

Build depth · 2-3 mm
Joints · none
Over · screed, tile, timber, board, blockwork
UFH · compatible, with commissioning
Walls, floors, ceilings and worktops

Material facts

Build · 2-3 mm of material, not 20 mm of stone or tile
Waste · goes over sound tile and screed, so nothing is ripped out
Repair · in place, by hand, rather than replaced
Recycled aggregate · glass, shell and cork options in the Rock Plaster wall range
Sealed system · not vapour-open; lime or clay where a wall must breathe

Send us the drawings

System recommendations, budget guidance and lead times from our technical team.

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Colour every surface

Worktops, cabinetry, floors and walls - try it on our kitchen render.

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Microcement, as installed.

Read the case study→

Microcement floor, walls and sculpted shower shelving in one continuous surface, Battersea — Floor, walls and the sculpted shower shelving in one continuous 3 mm surface - Battersea, SW11.

Sealed microcement floor running into the walls without a joint in a Battersea townhouse bathroom — The sealed floor with the fixtures in, ahead of final snagging. The same material turns up the wall with no skirting and no joint, and the oak vanity floats above it.

Sample panels

Photographed in the studio.
Chosen in your light.

Every finish below is a real hand-made panel from our sample library, photographed flat with no styling. Texture, grain and aggregate are as they arrive. Colour is matched to your scheme at sampling.

Granite fleck - microcement sample panel — Granite fleckMagma Plaster, rustic, floated with granite aggregate. Limestone.

Exposed aggregate - microcement sample panel — Exposed aggregateCoarse mineral aggregate floated into a Pearl base and lightly ground back.

Recycled shell - microcement sample panel — Recycled shellRock Plaster with recycled fine shell, trowelled and sprayed. Dark Earth.

Recycled glass - microcement sample panel — Recycled glassRock Plaster with recycled bottle glass. Smoke, standard matt.

Natural cork - microcement sample panel — Natural corkRock Plaster with fine natural cork, salt and pepper. Putty.

Roller and float - microcement sample panel — Roller and floatMagma Plaster, rustic, rollered then floated for an open texture. Smoke.

Screen colours are indicative. Panels in your shortlisted colours are made for every consultation and viewed in the room they are for.

Questions we get asked.

Is microcement waterproof?

The system is; the microcement on its own is not. Waterproofing comes from a waterproofing membrane applied to the substrate before any finish goes on, with taped detailing at every corner and penetration. The sealed, joint-free microcement above it is the second line of defence. Anyone describing the microcement itself as the waterproofing has misunderstood the product and that misunderstanding is the cause of most failures we are called to look at.

How thick is microcement?

Two to three millimetres including base and finish coats. That is the reason it can go over existing tile without lifting it, without rebuilding thresholds and without losing door clearance.

How long does a microcement installation take?

A bathroom typically runs five to seven working days including waterproofing, coats and the cure time between them. A seamless floor is around four to six days before light foot traffic. The seal then needs further time to reach full hardness before the surface takes full use - that period is not padding and a floor put into service early never reaches its rated performance.

Does microcement crack?

At 2-3 mm it has no capacity to bridge movement, so anything moving underneath will come through. That means a cracking screed, drummy tiles or a deflecting timber deck must be dealt with first and any structural or expansion joint in the substrate has to be carried through to the surface. Correctly prepared, it does not crack on its own.

Can microcement be repaired?

Yes and this is one of its real advantages over tile or stone. A damaged area is abraded, re-coated and re-sealed in place and blended into the surrounding surface - no slab replacement, no matching a discontinued tile.

Microcement systems.